Most people focus on reducing the cost of existing expenses, for example:
- Switching from AT&T to Net10 for cell phone service and killing landline service
- Trading in the BMW for a Prius
- Switching from a premium DirecTV pkg on 3 TV's to a basic Dish Network pkg on 2 TV's
- Sell 'toys' you don't use anymore (boats, jet skis, quads, kayaks, furniture, electronics, exercise equipment, jewelry). Not things you still enjoy, but we often have stuff laying around that we've lost interest in. eBay is a wonderful thing IMO, I sold about 75 items over two years and netted thousands on stuff that I never would have used, and much of it would have been thrown in the trash netting $ nothing!
And these are effective.
We've found just reducing the frequency of expenses, without reducing quality or cost per event just as helpful, for example:
- We like to go out for dinner at some higher end restaurants. The answer for us was not to confine ourselves to less expensive restaurants, it was to go out to our favorite places a little less often. To our pleasant surprise, we enjoy going out for a nice dinner even more now while spending less. We were going out so often we didn't fully appreciate it.
- Used to go to the movies almost every weekend in winter, now we go once a month if that. Seeing some movies for $1 at Blockbuster Express is just fine. The ones that really translate better on the big screen, we still go to the theater.
- Keep things longer. Keep cars, electronics, appliances for another year or more. Don't replace until something wears out, vs replace just for new model.
And when something breaks, I used to just go buy a new one without much thought. Now I consider can I fix it, can I do without or substitute something else, buy used, share with a neighbor? If not, buy new but there are often other options.
There are so many approaches, the latter is sometimes overlooked. Best of luck, it's a process you work thru over time.
Over the past five years or so, we've cut our spending by more than one third just reviewing every category and adjusting most. All but one of the above are things we actually did. And guess what, our quality of life has not diminished at all that we can see. "Stuff" is over rated IMO, experiences are way more fun. It's surprising and satisfying!